Help me...
I hear her voice
as I drift back into the dream that I am accustomed to every so often.
please, she
begs me. Please help me.
"YA WAKE UP!" - my sisters voice interjects and
the dream floats back under the cloudy surface of my groggy mind.
"Noo" I moan into my pillow, too tired to
moved. "Tell Nan that I'll be down in a second?" I ask as I roll over
back into a comfortable position.
"No, get up now."
I know she won't leave my door way until I'm out of
bed. She is like Nan's little assistant,
and like Nan, won't take no for an answer.
I get out of bed now and stretch, a yawn escaping me as I
do so.
"Europa," I say between my yawns, "What time is it?"
"Europa," I say between my yawns, "What time is it?"
"Seven in the morning!" She replies happily and
joins me near my bed. "I already watered your garden!" She says excitedly,
feeling accomplished.
"How nice of you." I smile. Yes, she's
a pain in the morning but she's also quite helpful.
"And Nan made some apple waffles. The apples are
from your garden, too. They're delicious!"
My brows furrowed, "How did you pick the
apples?" I asked. She was too short to reach the apples even at their
lowest points.
"I shook the trees!" she half shouted in a
proud demeanor.
I laughed which became a yawn as I rubbed my eyes.
"That's clever, Europa. But those trees aren't almond trees, and they're
not meant to be shaken. Next time I'll
help you get them, okay?"
She thought for a moment but me helping her was not on her mind. "You don't wake up early enough," she said simply. "So I'll just keep shaking the trees."
I smiled, shaking my head. I gave in "fine."
"Enough talking let's go!" She shouted at me,
grabbing my hand and leading me down the stairs.
"It's about time!" said Nan, making coffee for
herself. "Callisto, I thought you must've died up there. Only took ya
about twenty minutes to get down here ! Waffles nearly too cold !"
"Your midget didn't do a very good job of getting me
out of bed," I said as I grabbed some
pancakes and put them on my plate.
I sat down across from my sister who had joined me at the table.
"I AM NOT A MIDGET " She wailed, shooting my a
dirty look. "And you're obviously out of bed now so shut it."
I grinned, taking my first stab at my pile of pancakes.
"You better eat those pancakes fast, boy!" Nan
said, placing her empty coffee mug on the counter as she made another batch.
"How much coffee did you make this morning already?"
I asked nodding my head at her and her favorite coffee maker. She was addicted to the stuff but didn't want
to admit it. She blamed her need for coffee on her old age.
"Doesn't matter" she mumbled as she pressed the buttons.
"That's her third" Europa piped.
"Don't go judging an old lady until you've reached
my age and need the energy! Now finish dem pancakes and head out to feed those
horses!"
I ate what was left on my plate and headed out to the
barn.
~~~~
Sonny was already trotting toward me when I entered the
pen.
"Hey there" I said to him softly. I rubbed his
neck and he lazily closed his eyes.
"There you are , horse whisper!" I looked
across the field to my best friend who happened
to work on the ranch. He desperately needed
a job and Nan, being the nurturing foster mom she is, took him in just as she
did for me and my sister.
" 'Morning" I replied with a wave as he made
his way over.
He wiped the sweat away from his brow as he approached. "Man
oh man do I hate being up this early on a saturday!"
"I couldn't agree more" I said while tying
Sonny to the fence post.
"Especially how we're going to be out so late, it
sucks to run on no sleep."
I cut him off there. "Look, I know you want me to go
with you to that party, but I can't, Okay? I don't get Sundays off like you do
and I'm not working hung-over."
He scratched his head and I could tell he was working on
some master plan to get me to go.
"Shelly's going to be there."
"Really, Dan? That makes me not want to go even more." I started to clean Sonny's hooves and I felt Dan getting impatient.
"Just go with me tonight, please?" He asked his
voice in all desperation. He was like my
sister with persistance.
"Fine," I said. "As long as you stop
bothering me about it. And don't tell
Shelly that I'm going because she'll be
there. I don't want her thinking that I want to get back together now that
she's finally off my mind."
Dan gave that goofy grin of his. "You got it,
bro!"
"Why do you want to go anyways?" I asked as I
un-teathered Sonny.
"There's a hot girl going that I wanna get at, if
you know what I mean." said Dan with a devilish grin.
"Well good luck with it" I said as I walked
away from him.
"I'll be back at 7 to pick you up!" He shouted
as I was further away.
I glanced back at him, laughing.